Jill is an excellent example of a nursing leader. She started out as a night shift nurse on 7 South, where she was an excellent role model for many nurses. She was always willing to share her knowledge with others and was an excellent resource for the floor. When she completed her master’s degree in education, she transitioned to our Nurse Educator.

Since becoming our Nurse Educator, she has continued to share her knowledge and goes out of her way to make another feel supported. Jill always makes herself available for her team, she adjusts her hours as needed to benefit the floor in whatever way she can. Problem-solving is something Jill excels at. For example, there was emergency chemotherapy that needed to be hung in the ICU. The floor was very busy that day with the charge nurse having chemotherapy of her own to hang. Jill reached out to another nurse who use to work on 7 South and asked if she had time in her schedule to help. The nurse was available to help and there was not a delay in patient care. Jill is a fantastic advocate, for not only patients but for her staff.

We often have direct admissions come into the hospital for chemotherapy. Our process for getting these patients in needed to be revamped. Not only did she help change the process in which the direct admits come in, but she also created a PowerPoint presentation about what it means to give chemotherapy. She shared and presented this to upper management including staffing and house supervisors. This ensured that everyone understood that we were giving high-risk medication and what it means to give chemotherapy. This was just one amazing example of how she advocated for her team.

Jill is present during preceptor and preceptee meetings to ensure that the new nurse does not need or want additional education material. I have seen a member of the team come up to Jill and ask a question or ask for assistance and without missing a beat she will drop what she is doing and do whatever she can to help. She rounds with nurses and, when they are ready, encourages them to consider advancing up the clinical ladder.
Our previous educators did not have a lot of oncology experience and one of Jill’s goals was to become a true oncology floor. To do this she created an oncology fellowship program, where she meets with nurses who are new to chemotherapy and educates them over a series of classes. She discusses different cancer types, associated labs, and how these patients usually present clinically. She also discusses several types of chemotherapy and oncology emergencies that could arise. She also created a chemotherapy council where we meet to discuss general safety issues regarding chemotherapy, but we also discuss educational opportunities. When we have a regimen that we do not normally give, she is the first one to look up/discuss it with the oncologist to educate the rest of the team.

When Jill’s schedule allows her to be on the floor, she is not afraid to step in and assist with anything. She is lovingly known as the battery fairy. She keeps batteries in her pocket and when she sees that a telemetry battery is low, she will go into the patient’s room and change them without being asked. She helps to change patients, assists them to the bathroom, and offers to pass medications to other team members. When she has an opportunity to teach someone something new, she never passes it up. A nurse had a wound vac that needed to be changed and was unsure of where to start. Instead of Jill just doing the change for the nurse, she took the time to take them into the supply room so they could see where everything is kept. She then took them into the room and let the nurse be the one to change it while she walked her through it step by step. The nurse was extremely grateful to have the experience and expressed how much Jill’s assistance meant to her.

Jill is the backbone of 7 South; we would be lost without her!